Leaders call for three-year, global ‘Clean Revolution’

A global coalition of governments, businesses and other leaders today announced the launch of a three-year “Clean Revolution” to speed up the adoption of clean energy, clean technologies and new business and design practices around the world.

“This year the human population will exceed 7 billion,” said Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in response to the announcement by The Climate Group. “The only path to alleviate poverty, avert dangerous climate change and ensure sustainable development is to ensure that modern energy is made available to all, and that it is provided as cleanly as possible.”

Launched during the opening ceremony of Climate Week NYC, the Clean Revolution campaign is being promoted through a new Climate Group website, TheCleanRevolution.org. The site features eight case studies of businesses and governments working to build the low-carbon economy — Better Place, BT Group, China, IKEA, New York City, Scotland, South Australia, Suzlon — and will add more examples over time. The website is aimed at becoming “the world’s most comprehensive compilation of information and best practices for how governments and businesses are implementing the Clean Revolution.”

According to the leaders behind the campaign, the Clean Revolution is “the only viable way to secure economic growth, tackle climate change and ensure that the nine billion people that will be on the planet by 2050, will not only subsist — but thrive.”

“Over the past year, New Yorkers have had a taste of what climate change may mean for our city with some of the most extreme weather we have ever seen — perhaps a warning of what the future holds if we do not act now,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the officials on hand to launch the new campaign. “With the stakes as high as they are, just doing nothing is no option and it’s our cities that must take the lead.”

Also attending was former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said The Climate Group has demonstrated a “unique ability to convene key business and government stakeholders, communicate the economic opportunities presented by bold climate action and drive leadership …”

Blair recently became chair of The Climate Group’s International Leadership Council.

Following the announcement of The Clean Revolution campaign, a group of business leaders participated in an hour-long panel discussion on “The Role of Business in a Clean Revolution.” The discussion focused on why climate change and sustainability matter to the leaders taking part in the panel, the changes they have seen since they started investing in clean technologies, their key adaptation success stories and how other businesses can follow.

The panelists included Wang Shi, chairman of China Vanke Corporation; Michel Liès, chairman of Global Partnerships for Swiss Re; Mark Vachon, vice president of GE Ecomagination; Mike Ward, president of IKEA North America; and Victor Der, general manager North America, of the Global CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) Institute.